Last week Liam travelled back home to sunny West Sussex, to visit his old school and participate in a career fair at the Angmering School.
It was great getting to speak to kids from all over the area, reunite with teachers and pass on the good word about Cut the Mustard and what we're up to in another area of the UK. We had kids from years 7-9, GCSE students in Years 10 and 11, and older sixth-formers from years 12 and 13 (not to mention visiting schools and parents) come to say hi, and chat about animation and creative careers in general.
Given we're a small studio, most of us in the team have covered a much wider range of bases than the everyday generalist animator, which may have pros and cons for us at work, but means we're absolutely great at explaining to people the multitude of roles available in the industry. Liam talked beyond just animation too, chatting about illustration, design, photography and film too. As the only creative business at the event (as is, unfortunately, the way) it's important to represent the industries and squash those preconceptions of working as an artist being a poor career choice.
Throughout the day we got the kids to draw some character designs, demonstrating personal style, shape language and how the industry shapes the characters we see on our screens.
Seems like CTM may be back at Angmering for a talk in the near future. We love chatting about animation, teaching what we know and spreading the love. I even got to show off a new Cut the Mustard shirt (fancy)!
Thanks to everyone who came and said hi! Shoutout especially to the army of 13-year-old boys who drew some wonderful dicks for us on my character design sheet (it was expected).